Morning journal and courier., 1887-06-15
THE NATHAN HALE STATUE.

YEAR. THE SAME TERMS BY MAIL.
 Wednesday, June Is. 1887.
 THE NATHAN HALE STATUE.
 Unveiled Yesterday At Hartrerd-The
 Ceremonies-Addresse By Charles
 Dudley Warner And Governor
 Lounsbury.
 HARTFORD, June 14.-The ceremonies at tending the delivery of the Gerhardt statue in honor of Nathan Hale from the commis- sion to the State of Connecticut took place here to-day. The statue is to be placed in the Capitol It is bronze figure of heroic size. The hero is represented standing with arms partly outstretched in an attitude suggesting his famous words of regret that he had but one life to give for his country. The State commission who had charge of selecting the design were: Governor Lounsbury, chairman ex-oficio, Hon. Robert Colt, New London, Hon. Henry Barnard, Charles Dudley War ner E. s. Cleveland The ceremonial was very simple, in accordance with the com missioners' wish. Rev. J. H. Twitchell, of Hartford, offered prayer. Then came the beautiful address of Charles Dudley Warner
 It recounted the origin of the movement for statue of Hale and the successive steps in the case. The late Hon. R. D. Hubbard in his fine Memorial day address in New Haven in 1881, at Music Hall, suggested the ereo- tion of the statue to Hale, there being no memorial of the hero. except the monument in Coventry. Hon. B. s. Cleveland, MT. Hubbard, Hon. H. c. Robinson and Hon. s. w. Kellogg had aided much in securing the statue, and the legislature appropriated five thousand dollars for the object. After words of praise for the statue as an artistic work and worthy the subject, and speaking of the fact that it is not portrait statue, there being no likeness of Hale extant, the speaker said:
 On the 21st of April, 1775 a messenger, riding express, from Boston to New York Concord, reached New London. The news created intense excitement A public meet ing was called in the court house at twilight, and among the speakers, who exhorted the people to take up arms at once, was one, a youth not yet twenty one years old, who said s'Let us march immediately and never lay down our arms until we have obtained our independence"-one of the first, perhaps the first, of the public declarations of the pur- pose of independence. It was Nathan Hale, already person of some note in the colony, of family then not unknown and destined in various ways to distinction in the repub- lie. A kinsman of the same name lost his life in the Louisburg fight. He had been for year the preceptor of the Union Gram mar school at New London. The morning after the meeting he was enrolled as vol unteer and marched away with his company to Cambridge.
 Nathan Hale, descended from Robert Hale, who settled in Charlestown in 1632, scion of the Hales of Kent, England, was born in Coventry, Connecticut, on the 9th of June, 1755 the sixth child of Richard Hale and his
 wife Elizabeth Strong, persons of strong in- tellect and the highest moral character and Puritans of the strctest observances. Brought up in this atmosphere, in which duty and moral rectitude were the unquestioned obli- gations in life, he came to manhood with character that enabled him to face death or obloquy without finching when duty called, so that his behavior at the last was not an accident of the moment, but the result of ancestry, training and principle. Fee ble physically in infancy, he deVel- oped into robust boy, strong in beautiful youth, and into young manhood endowed with every admirable quality. In feats of strength and agility he recalls the tra ditions of Washington; he early showed a remarkable avidity for knowledge, which was so sought that be became before he was of age one of the best educated young men of his time in the colonies. He was not only classical scholar, with the limitations of those days, but, what was then rare, he made scientific attainments which greatly im- pressed those capable of judging, and he had taste for art and remarkable talents as an
 
 ministry He received his preparatory edu- cation from Dr. Joseph Huntington, classi- cal scholar and pastor of the church in Gov entry, entered Yale college at the age of sixteen and graduated with high honors in class of sixty in September, 1773. At the | time of his graduation his personal appear. l ance was notable. Dr. Eneas Munson of | New Haven who knew him well in the last | year at Yale, said of him: ''He was almost | six feet in height, perfectly proportioned. 1 and in figure and department he was the most manly man have ever met His chest was broad, his muscles were firm, his face ! wore most benign expression, his complex | ion was roseate, his eyes were light blue and beamed with intelligence, his hair was soft and light brown in color and his speech was | rather low, sweet and musical. His personal
 beauty and grace of manner were | most charming. Why, all the girls in New Haven fell in love with him" said Dr. Munson, land wept tears of real sorrow | when they heard of his sad fate. In dress he was always neat. He was quick to lend hand to being in distress, brute or human; l was overfowing with good humor and was | the idol of all his acquaintainces." Dr. Jared Sparks, who knew several of Hale's intimate l friends, writes of him: Possessing genius, taste and order, he became distinguished as scholar, and endowed in an eminent degree with those graces and gifts of nature which add & charm to youthful excellence he gained
 
 moral worth and irreproachable habits were joined gentleness of manner, an ingenious disposition and vigor of understanding. No young man of his years put forth fairer ! promise of future usefulness and celebrity; 1 the fortunes of none were fostered more sin cerely by the generous good wishes of his
 associates, and the hopes and encouraging presages of his superiors." It was remem- bered at Yale that he was brilliant debater as well as scholar. At his graduation he en- gagged in debate on the question "Whether the education of daughters be not, without any just reason, more neglected than that of sons!" 'tIn this debate," wrote James Hill house, one of his classmates, Che was the champion of the daughters and most ably advocated their cause. You may be sure that
 he received the plaudits of the ladies pres ent"
 Hale seems to have had an irresistible charm for everybody. He was a favorite in society, he had the manner and the qualities that made him leader among men and gained him the admiration of women. He was always intelligently busy, and had the Yankee ingenuity-he 'fcould do anything but spin" he used to say to the girls of Gov entry laughing over the spinning wheel. There is a universal testimony to his alert intelligence, vivacity, manliness, sincerity